A man was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13, 2026, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said. Rights groups identified the victim as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, a Colombian who worked as a delivery driver and lived in Biddeford with his wife and three-year-old daughter.
The Biddeford Police Department said it responded to an incident involving ICE personnel at the intersection of Pool and Hill streets on Monday morning, was providing security at the scene and directed inquiries about the incident to ICE. Fecteau said state police and the state Department of Public Safety were on the scene gathering details.
An ICE spokesperson said officers had been conducting targeted surveillance of the last known address of a person with a final order of removal and that when an individual departed the residence in a vehicle agents attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The spokesperson said the vehicle attempted to flee the scene, an officer discharged his weapon fearing for public safety, the driver was struck and emergency services were immediately contacted; he passed away from his injuries. The Maine Attorney General's Office said, "the suspect attempted to flee in the vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot."
Sen. Angus King said Guerrero was not the target of the operation and that ICE agents had been given a final order for another man they were targeting. King said he had spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin following the shooting, urged state and local officials to remain involved in the FBI-led investigation and raised concerns that ICE agents were not wearing body cameras.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin gave a directive ordering ICE to temporarily stop conducting most vehicle stops nationwide after the pair of deadly shootings in Texas and Maine, a law enforcement source said. The pause is temporary, will not apply in cases involving the most dangerous or serious criminal targets, and multiple law enforcement sources said officers will receive new training on vehicle stops.
Witness Daniel Boucher said he watched agents pull the shooting victim from his car and put him on the ground. Boucher said he heard the young man say, "I tried to stop," and that he overheard one of the ICE agents allegedly say the driver tried to run him over.
Project Relief Maine said on social media that the person who was killed was one of their community members and that the group was in contact with the family and committed to supporting them. Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine called the death "devastating, enraging, and unacceptable" in a joint statement. Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a social media post she was aware of reports and that her team was working to get more information, and dozens of demonstrators were seen in Biddeford chanting "get ICE out" and criticizing Sen. Susan Collins.
The shooting was at least the seventh instance of a person shot dead during immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, and less than a week earlier a man in Houston, identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot and killed by an ICE officer after a vehicle stop at about 7:00 a.m. DHS said that stop was initiated after agents saw a white van with an individual who resembled the target; passengers and the victim's family have disputed the account and the agency's legal watchdog has opened an investigation.
Advocates told reporters that Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S. and had a social security number. Biddeford is about 24 kilometers south of Portland.